Nagare stood out on one of the many snow-capped mountains that were just outside of Kumogakure no Sato. Everything had changed dramatically yesterday; he had been given the title of Sannin, and now he found himself getting lots of work and training requests from various Kumo-nin. This influx of business was dampened by the recent news of his acquaintance, Rui's, passing. The boy had fallen off of Sky Point, down to his death. It was sad news, and though Nagare never knew him that well, it still made it crappy to think about. I know death is natural, but not when it's that young, all over a stupid misstep... he thought as he sighed.

This morning, he had received yet another training request from someone by the name of Yoshiro Kuroka. He'd heard of Yoshi multiple times; the man was a Sp. Jounin who specialized in Bukijutsu. Nagare accepted this training request above the others, simply because Yoshiro wanted to learn Katon, an element that Nagare knew lots about, and also because Nagare wanted a chance to watch how he fought with his sword, so that he could try and pick up a few new Bukijutsu techniques of his own. So, there he sat, waiting for Yoshiro to arrive, while watching the sun rise in the sky. Horui sat nearby, casually napping in the freezing snow.

Bukijutsu Training:

It had been a week after his former team mates passing although the pair never really bonded that well he was still torn with emotion and guilt rui dying alone atop a mountain was no death for a shinobi raised under squad karma, After weeks of crippling depression he decided to honor his memory by becoming stronger requesting the presence of a sanin to teach him the katon element, the sanin assigned a man named Nagare a man that recently ascended to the title of sanin a man that yoshiro knew nothing about yet respected for his rank in the village.

Getting ready for the day ahead yoshiro found himself feeling slightly off the training spot that he was to meet his teacher would be the peak of one of kumogakures many mountains, similar to the scenario rui final moments where spent stirring the suppressed feelings of grief a crippling feeling that had him bed ridden for days, falling to his knees at the recurring thoughts of the death his squad mate faced had taken hold of the man, His loving pet fox komomi running to yoshiro's side grinding against the man before settling in his lap the unspoken love between the two was the comfort he needed to continue on with his day "Komomi would you mind coming with me today I need a brave face and with you there I know I can get through alright" his voice quivers in his request as he wraps his fox in his arms in a loving embrace regaining his composure.

As yoshiro reached the snow capped mountain the terrain bringing hazed thoughts of why Rui might have been in such a place alone his emotions stirring as the face of the child featured boy enters his head yoshiro dismissing the thoughts looking down at his pet fox Komomi the look of unconditional love as there eye's meet quickly suppressing his feeling of depression,  reaching the peak of the mountain standing at a distance is the hazed figure of a man quickly catching his attention trenching through the thick layers of snow towards the man as he reached him he gazed upon the smaller framed man his hair styled and a dress sense to match the though passed through yoshiro brain "Is this man really a Sanin?" before addressing his superior "It's a pleasure to meet you Nagare-Senpei,  Kuroka Yoshiro it's an honor to be training with you" a charming smile appearing across his face along with a polite bow his pet Komomi sitting in the snow beside the man looking at the stranger with a look of curiosity.

Katon Training:

Nagare noticed the man approach him, long white hair flowing in the wind with every step. A little fox strode alongside him with no expression; it seemed to be calm, for the most part, but Nagare wasn't used to seeing such animals, at least not here in Kaminari no Kuni. He finally stopped in front of Nagare before saying, "It's a pleasure to meet you Nagare-senpei. Kuroka, Yoshiro. It's an honor to be training with you." An honor? Hardly. Nagare didn't think that highly of himself, he was a powerful ninja and a high ranking one, but that didn't make him any better than Yoshiro outside of battle. He sighed and looked back into Yoshiro's eyes, his usual blank glare now cast upon his temporary student. His red eyes shone bright as he muttered, "Well, let's get to this training, then. You wanted to learn Katon?" Ah, Katon. The favorite of Nagare's elements, and also the one he was most proficient in. Something about burning stuff was just fun in its own way.

The Sannin stood, and turned to Horui, who was still asleep peacefully behind him. "Horui, wake up. The training's about to start." Horui's eyes fluttered open, a magenta shade compared to the crimson of Naga's, and he stood up silently. Is this training session going to last very long...? I'm tired. Nagare shook his head as if to say, "no" before thinking, I'll be sure to finish it as soon as this Yoshiro guy can use Katon well enough on his own. Angry that he hadn't brought a sword so that he could fit in a bit of training of his own, he settled with a stick that stuck in the snow. Meh, it would have to do. He pulled the stick from the snow and turned to face Yoshiro, with Horui standing behind him.

"Alright, so today we're going to learn Katon, obviously...it's a simple enough element, but still, let's start with the basics. Shape manipulation is harder to manage, as the flames burn wildly and bend and turn at their own will....so, starting with an easy D-Rank. This technique doesn't require any shape manipulation; Katon as just chakra in its natural state, with extreme heat applied. Focus all of the chakra at one concentrated point, try to increase the heat...and eventually," he cut himself off as he created a small flame in his opposite hand, "There you are, you have a flame. Now, you try."

---

Training Bukijutsu D > C
Word Count: 664/3,000

Nagare's Chakra - 165/175:

Standing in front of the man that had reached the rank of sannin yoshiro gazed upon nagare the man sitting before him brings thoughts of his own glory ascending to the rank of sannin was a personal goal of his, it would not only increase his standing in the village but strengthen his position in his clan,  the silence setting over the two nagare sounding of a sigh in response to the mans introduction his almost glowing red eyes staring into yoshiro's with a dull gaze "Well, let's get to this training, then. You wanted to learn Katon?" the man standing before turning towards an almost invisible figure lying in the snow "Horui, wake up. The training's about to start." the silhouette of the man shaped figure standing responding as the exchange words.

It was then nagare addressed yoshiro in the first direction of using the katon element "Alright, so today we're going to learn Katon, obviously...it's A simple enough element, but still, let's start with the basics. Shape manipulation is harder to manage, as the flames burn wildly and bend and turn at their own will....so, Starting with an easy D-Rank. This technique doesn't require any shape manipulation; Katon as just chakra in its natural state, with extreme heat applied. Focus all of the chakra at one concentrated point, try to increase the heat...and Eventually," his hand held in front of his body a small flame appearing twisting and flickering as the wind pushes it "There you are, you have a flame. Now, you try.", Yoshiro putting his hand in front of his chest his eye's focus on his hand his concentration of freely allowing the chakra to wave and bend similar to how he creates his futon element, His hand starts to glow a dull white charging and compacting in the palm of his hand the glowing white orb beginning to flicker and continuously reshape itself

"Next to add heat" he told himself his focus breaks unsure exactly how to create the heat required to spark the flame, the moment his focus broke the white orb begun to flutter uncontrollably eventually dissipating his first unsuccessful try at creating the fire element, "I don't understand how to you create heat" a question posed muttered under his breath peppered in annoyance and figuration as he watches burning flame still maintained in the mans hand pushing his frustration aside he tries once again first creating a single white ball of chakra its movement beinging to freely shape its self waving a flickering like fire, "I've got the shape, now heat" his mind focusing on the imagined feeling of warmth and fire his lapse in concentration once again causing the dissipation of the fire shaped white chakra "Am i do something wrong?" Yoshiro says his tone clearly fustrated .

Yoshiro held out his hand as well, and a flame appeared. A pretty decent start, a flame within seconds. His face grew calm, devoid of concentration lines or any sort of strain as the flame began to glow a white color, like an orb of light. It glowed faintly in front of them, until suddenly it grew unstable. The wind fought against it, blowing over the mountainside and kicking up snow, and the flame shuddered just a few more times before it faded away, no more than a wisp of smoke. Yoshiro now grew frustrated, and looked at Nagare with a disappointed frown. First of many attempts, it would appear, maybe this wouldn't come so easy. "I don't understand how to you create heat," Now, it looked like this was the part where Nagare went into depth...he wondered how exactly he would explain this. Yoshiro had to understand the basics of fire, so that would work.

"Flames work through the use of oxygen, fuel, and heat. The heat will start the flame over the fuel, the fuel will provide the fire with a basis to burn, and the oxygen feeds the flame, maintaining it." Nagare held out his hand again, with his fire still burning. He was actually making decent sense. Wow. "The chakra will act as the fuel AND the heat in the case of jutsu. That first burst of chakra will easily make the flame. For the heat to keep it running, you need to concentrate, and focus as much chakra into one point of your hand as possible. Chakra's natural nature is a volatile one, and the friction against itself will build heat very quickly. Just charge your chakra as if you're preparing a jutsu, and instead of going through with the jutsu, push all of the chakra into your hand and create a flame." He closed his fist, squeezed it hard, and the flame grew to three times its size. He opened his hand again and made the flame fade away completely.

"Go, try again. We need to get through this preliminary round of fundamental Katon, so we can move onto the fun part; infusing weapons with it." he stepped back and twirled the wooden stick in his hand as he waited for Yoshiro to do something. Horui stayed behind, still rubbing his eyes tiredly.

Training Bukijutsu:

As the mans frustrations build his tutor offers words of wisdom to help yoshiro in his ambitions to create the katon element "Flames work through the use of oxygen, fuel, and heat. The heat will start the flame over the fuel, the fuel will provide the fire with a basis to burn, and the oxygen feeds the flame, maintaining it." Nagare says after watching the previous attempt at flame, The equation of fire was one the boy knew well watching fire effect his futon element nagare then continuing "The chakra will act as the fuel AND the heat in the case of jutsu. That first burst of chakra will easily make the flame. For the heat to keep it running, you need to concentrate, and focus as much chakra into one point of your hand as possible. Chakra's natural nature is a volatile one, and the friction against itself will build heat very quickly. Just charge your chakra as if you're preparing a jutsu, and instead of going through with the jutsu, push all of the chakra into your hand and create a flame." Closing his fist and opening it once more to reveal a flame almost 3 times the size of the original one.

"Go, try again. We need to get through this preliminary round of fundamental Katon, so we can move onto the fun part; infusing weapons with it." yoshiro stands in front of the man placing his hand in front of him once more, as his body charges an aura of white moving light surround his body his chakra building his concentration focusing on his hand the white orb of chakra reappearing at first then changing shaped flickering and waving like flames, Then using the building force of his chakra pin pointing the force towards the orb, With a bright spark the moving orb suddenly starts heat in his hand with a large spark the orb catching creating a small simmering flame in his hand yoshiros eyes open gazing upon the created flame a uncontrollable smile appears on his face "I did it" he thought to himself.

"Alright so I create fire and next was infusing weapons correct" yoshiros smug smile clearly showing his content with himself, completing the creation of katon his motivation quickly grew fabricating a massive 6 foot bamboo pole grabbing the handle and unsheathing a giant five and a half foot nodachi holding both the massive sheathe and sword, Looking over nagare holding a stick like a sword "Nagare-Senpei would you like to use my sheathe its a little stronger than a stick" smiling at his teacher ready for his next lesson.

225/250:

Yoshiro managed to succeessfully start a fire in his hand. This attempt at a flame flickered a bit, before brightening and starting to burn actively until he released it. He smiled a large, bright smile as he looked up at Nagare with expectant eyes.
"Alright so I create fire and next was infusing weapons, correct?" Nagare indeed had suggested that, so he simply nodded. Yoshiro never stopped smiling as he pulled out his sword, and said, "Nagare-senpei, would you like to use my sheathe? It's a little stronger than a stick." That would be much easier than fighting with a stick, after all, so Nagare accepted the offer, handing the stick to Horui as he armed himself with the sheathe. He gribbed it tightly, gave a few test swings, and stepped back. Horui stood next to him, and they both held their respective weapons out toward Yoshiro.

"Now, as for weapons. When infusing Katon into weapons, you don't really need to make your chakra into a fuel source for the flames, but rather make it only the heat. This makes it slightly easier than making pure Katon fire; but the only problem is, it's hard to maintain this heat while you're swinging the sword around, so you need expert concentration. Watch:" Nagare said, as he and Horui turned to each other. The sheathe glowed red from the sheer heat, and Horui's stick swung toward it. They collided and stayed there, pressing against each other, until Horui's stick began to sizzle as the sheathe burned it. They broke the stalemate and Nagare turned back to Yoshiro. "Now, come at me, and swing as carefully as you can. The goal is to burn me with your sword, but you'll need to master keeping the sword hot, first."

Training Bukijutsu:

The moment the sannin accepted his offer and grabbed yoshiros sheathe his eyes watched over his temporary senpei awaiting instruction nagare swinging the sheathe around getting a feel for the tough bamboos balance his movements and grip clearly that of someone who was new to the concept of kenjutsu the basics taught of kenjutsu taught with a bamboo sword simular to that of the sheathe, Thinking over whether or not to comment with pointers which could insult the man someone of his rank, trying to teach a man that reached the ranks of sannin could be taken quite bitter further more before he had time to speak nagare spoke the next directions.

"Now, as for weapons. When infusing Katon into weapons, you don't really need to make your chakra into a fuel source for the flames, but rather make it only the heat. This makes it slightly easier than making pure Katon fire; but the only problem is, it's hard to maintain this heat while you're swinging the sword around, so you need expert concentration. Watch:" with that nagare and houri both swinging each the stick and sheathe glowing a burning red once again giving the kuroka man another opportunity to observe his technique, with the stick eventually burning the mans focus now turning to yoshiro   "Now, come at me, and swing as carefully as you can. The goal is to burn me with your sword, but you'll need to master keeping the sword hot, first."

Before advancing in attack the thought accorded to feel out the general response from his attack before commenting on the sannin bukijutsu technique as his words could insult the man, yoshiros focus then turning to his sword concentrating his pure white chakra towards his sword his natural ability as a kuroka clan member helped with his expertise in weapon chakra flow, the compacting chakra around his weapon starts to heat the blade slowly building into a dull red color becoming a brighter color overtime, before advancing in an attack yoshiro preformed a few practice swings while maintaining the chakra flow the swings causing the burning red color to return to the bright polished steel "I've got the heat but a slight lapse in concentration to swing the sword and I've lost it this will be harder than I thought" yoshiro once again heating the sword with the use of his chakra taking a few more practice swing this time slower his focus on the flow to his nodachi to his relief the blistering heat remained in the blade.

He was now ready to feel out nagares ability with a sword making a few slow yet graceful swings of his sword a simple left and right creating a crossing pattern the first of which place out side of his guard inches away from the man simply to test his response the second of which incoming towards the man a burning slashed aimed for the mans chest, the kurokas eyes plastered on the man ready to watch his every movement in his counter to come.

215/250:

Naturally, Nagare watched Yoshiro with analytic eyes, scanning every eye and body movement the guy made. It was merely Nagare's personality, and based off of the body language that Yoshiro was giving off, it seemed he was staring a lot at the sheathe in hand. Nagare was holding it a bit awry, but he didn't really know any better, he was new to swords. After breaking the stare at the sheathe, Yoshiro focused his chakra into his blade, giving it a red glow, and soon a brighter one, indicating high heat. He could certainly burn at that temperature. Nagare held the sheathe in front of him defensively, waiting for Yoshiro to make a move. After a few sings at the air, Yoshiro faced the Sannin, and with determination in his eyes, stepped forward.

The first swing was to the left, and was aimed simply enough, so Nagare blocked it with the heated sheathe. The next one came quickly, and Nagare used his speed to hop backwards and avoid it. Now, as Yoshiro's pattern was plain, just swinging left and right, alternating now and then to make the slices a bit unpredictable. The real problem here wasn't his Kenjutsu technique, but of course, his maintenance of the Katon chakra. The blade was starting to lose its flare, and when Yoshiro did manage to cut Nagare with a strike, it didn't burn at all. Nagare held out a hand to stop him from swinging further, then pointed to the sword. Yoshiro had noticed as well, and gave another try, heating the blade again and coming forward. Nagare smiled at the guy's effort; it was good to know that some ninja really cared about becoming stronger.

The steady flow of the training session continued, and Nagare thought carefully about his swordplay. It was a sheathe that he was holding, but it still held the shape and a similar weight to a blade. His eyes scanned Yoshiro's stance. It was different than Bokuden's was, as Bokuden's was solid, and managed fast and stiff swings that effectively cut and gashed without breaking position. Yoshiro's was more graceful, like a dance with sword in hand. The swings were faster, but not as powerful. He took the information he knew of both techniques, and managed a combination. He wasn't as graceful as Yoshiro, but he went for speed more than strength. He also used momentum as he had in Bokuden's training, adding to the stability of the attacks. This made blocking Yoshiro's strikes easier, but still, the student's skill managed to give a few more cuts to Naga.

While Nagare continued dodging what he could, he spoke aloud, giving the next training strategy during this one.

"Now, of course, fires can maintain themselves over a distance, as long as they can retain heat and utilize the air as fuel. Try swinging the blade as fast as you can and releasing the Katon chakra from it; it should throw a flame at me. That could be an opportunity for you to catch me off guard with a ranged attack while you close in for a flaming slash." Nagare explained as he did a fast backflip. He was now a few meters away, enough distance for Yoshiro to attempt the strategy Nagare had just explained. He looked down at the bleeding cut on his arm while he waited for Yoshiro to give it a try.

Bukijutsu:

(occ: due to my lack of Internet thIs is a phone post I'll add color later)

Watching over the man that had become a sanin in the village his body movements and response to yoshiros basic but precise  attacks lived up to the title even with the lowered speed of his swings,  nagare receiving nothing more than a small cut, the small bout between the men although unsuccessful in the task at hand of burning the sanin  it did however give him a chance to analyze over the nagares  sword weilding technique.

While attacking nagare yoshiro observed his quick adjustments to his defense and attacks from stiff limbed and pin pointed attack to a more lose and elegant style spiraling his body to use its momentum the sudden adjustments to the sanins style surprised him the ability copy a stance so quickly nagare certnally showed signs of raw talent for the teaching, now almost positive he was new to kenjutsu yoshiro finally voiced his pointers "forgive my rudeness nagare-senpei but if I may offer some advice,  your grip seams to be extremely tight the grip should almost caress the handle like you would a woman,  your swings should  follow with your bodies movements maintaining your the momentum generated from each swing and turn allowing for speed and power" yoshiro says to the sanin in a firm serious tone shortly after receiving his next task to create a ranged fire attack  which he would follow with a barrage bladed attack to futher test the sanins ability to quickly adapt with a sword.

But first the difficult task of creating a moving fire the words of his tutor clear in direction adding the mans rapid exeleration  in the Katon element "Now, of course, fires can maintain themselves over a distance, as long as they can retain heat and utilize the air as fuel. " thinking over the words the using air as fuel stood out to the man recently creating a jutsu based on adding or depleting fuel to fire, thinking over his idea he knew it could be risky not being able to control the result could end with terrible results however it could give him an opportunity to show the sanin a slice of his true power potentially earning some respect from nagare with that he begun heating his sword once more the compacting and colliding chakra quickly building friction the sword glowing a burning hot red "air for fuel" the time had come to try his idea with his left hand he begun signing three seal with his futon chakra then extending over the top of the burning steel.

With the manipulation of his futon chakra he begins pouring massive amounts of oxygen creating a high fuel for the flames to flow then with a swing of his sword with blister speed the precision of chakra control in the swing needing to be perfect first releasing the heat from the sword creating a tiny moving flame the second action releasing his oxygen rich gale slash the two element meeting in the race towards nagare the flame catching the fuel and instantly combusting, the high amount of oxygen condensed in the futon creasnt has reacted how yoshiro had hoped to begin with the flames coating and doubling the size of the 6 foot gale creasnt  traveling one foot before becoming uncontolable bursting in a giant fire ball almost three meters in diameter close enough to both of the men to catch them in intense heat of the burning fire.

As the combustion of the fireball rapidly engulfed everything around it the heat of the flames melting the snow below the speed yoshiro would need to escape the flames without injury would extend his grasp running from the fire escaping with first degree burns across his left fore arm  "fuck it" the words muttered under his breath looking around the burnt terrain for nagare hoping he had escaped the fire but remaining weary of a surprise attack.

2512/3000

185/250:

Yoshiro's eyes stayed pressed to Nagare's sword technique; it was obvious that his focus was on the blade sheath within the Sannin's hand rather than on Yoshiro's own fire concentration. He broke the steady pace of the battle and said, "Forgive my rudeness, Nagare-senpei, but if I may offer some advice. Your grip seams to be extremely tight; the grip should almost caress the handle like you would a woman; your swings should follow with your body's movements, maintaining the momentum generated from each swing and in turn allowing for speed and power." Nagare sighed, it seemed everyone was a critique of his Kenjutsu. But this kid was using odd similes, like "caress the handle like you would a woman", which annoyed Nagare a bit. Sure, Yoshiro was better as a swordsman than Nagare, but Nagare had literally heard the exact same thing from Bokuden, and the momentum of his swings was fine.

Just hurry up and throw the flames at me... the Sōseiji thought to himself as he turned his head to the left and cracked his neck. Yoshiro finally concentrated, building Fuuton chakra into his sword. So he was planning some sort of combination attack? Nagare supposed that was fine, as long as he could manage to make SOME sort of Katon technique. The only concern that sat uncomfortably in the back of Nagare's mind was the possibility that Yoshiro could lose control of the flames, and they could end up hurting the guy or that curious fox that was standing next to him. The flames wouldn't spread, at least, due to the snow that littered the landscape in long white streaks piled onto the mountain, but that didn't mean that they weren't dangerous, maybe even lethal. Nagare continued to watch with steady eyes, keeping them locked on Yoshiro's sword. He spun the sword sheath in his hand in circles as he waited for a result.

The blade was glowing bright red with heat, and Nagare could feel the humidity from where he stood. This was going to be promising...Yoshiro finally released a blade of wind, but the friction between the blade and the jutsu along with the overall heat of the tool left the wind aflame, in the form of a massive fireball. It grew in size with its movement, reaching 1 meter...2 meters...almost a full three meters in diameter, traveling straight towards Nagare. It wasn't a problem for him, the only real problem was that Yoshiro hadn't thought this all the way through, and the flame was now so large that even he needed to dodge it. A jutsu that puts wounds the user was practically pointless, but it was a start, so Nagare accepted it as a success. The fireball was closing in, now maybe 20 feet from the Sannin, and he held out his hand. ”Kuchiyose: Yokushumoku no Kinshi!” Just as the fire barreling forward was about to make contact with the Sannin, he rapidly summoned a large wall of bats to take the impact head-on. They all disappeared after sustaining the full brunt of the jutsu, and all that was left was smoke and melted snow. Nagare’s deep-red eyes burned brightly through the smog. He had completely forgotten about Horui, who probably was killed...ah, well, he was just a glorified clone, after all.

The ninja’s grip on the blade sheath in his hand loosened and he wrapped a steady thumb around its edge, feeling it tentatively and debating on a new course of attack. Yoshiro had obviously managed to use Fuuton to his advantage in creating a Katon technique, which meant that he had a useable, if not decent, application and understanding of the release. Now it was time for Nagare to give him a few more tests before ending the training...but, of course, he wanted to have the training be a win-win kind of thing. Yes, it was already fun to be fighting; Nagare loved to train and battle. But it couldn't just be a matter of feeling good through fighting, Nagare needed to improve in battle just as much as Yoshiro did. So, he decided on attacking Yoshiro with the blade sheath again, to get a feel for weapon use more (although the sheath was decidedly lighter than an actual sword, since it wasn't metal and it was hollow, naturally) and also to give Yoshiro an option to use some sort of close-quarters Katon stuff. It wasn’t a magnificent plan or the most extreme training session, but at least Nagare was getting better at swordplay and Yoshiro had a grasp of how Katon worked. The smoke was starting to clear, so Nagare escaped from his thought process to react before he was found.

Yoshiro didn’t seem to notice Nagare watching from afar, behind the smog, so he followed up with another technique. He made a dragon hand seal and a thick mist was poured out from his mouth. It covered the area, and by the time the rest of the smoke faded, the diameter around them was blanketed in the fog, almost impossible to see through. Nagare kept his eyes locked on Yoshiro’s silhouette even as the mist began to hang in the air, so that by the time the jutsu was complete, he would know exactly where the man was standing. ”Now, Yoshiro...this’ll be simple. I just want you to attack me with any Katon you deem fit...the goal here is to adapt to different situations using your new elemental release.” His voice echoed through the mountainside, making it scattered enough so that Yoshiro wouldn’t be able to tell where he was speaking from. He raised the sheath, holding it with a reverse grip in his left hand, ready to strike. He sighed a quiet breath and circling southwest of Yoshiro with intense speed to get perfect sneak attack. He blurred to the location in under a quarter of a second, and was now close enough to land a blow. He swung the sheath with precision, aimed at the crook of Yoshiro’s neck and shoulder. It wouldn’t do any serious hurt, maybe a bit of a bruise, considering it was only a sword hilt, but it would give the pupil a good opportunity to strike back, as was the purpose of training in the first place.

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Bukijutsu Training Complete:

140/175: